


In The Shadow of Those Past Kings

by GhostEyeliner



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Changes in canon character dynamics, Character tags to be added as more chapters come out, Gen, Subtle Ikesoren and Micaiah & Pelleas later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 04:11:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13895973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostEyeliner/pseuds/GhostEyeliner
Summary: Prince Soren had been raised in Daein all his life by his father, Ashnard, fully aware of of his cursed heritage as a Branded.When the Greil Mercenaries along with the Crimea Liberation Army had marched their way throughout all of Tellius in order to stop the Mad King, they succeeded, leaving the broken country of Daein to Soren. 3 years after taking the throne, in order to make Begnion happy and not take over Daein by force, he has to have Daein fight a war of false pretences with the Laguz Alliance while they secretly tried to help the alliance.Surely, this small false war wouldn’t be as disastrous as the Mad King’s War, right?





	In The Shadow of Those Past Kings

After the demise of the Mad King Ashnard, the people of Daein were lost. Without him, they didn't know what to do. Especially when the Begnion Occupational Army had arrived in the defeated country and tried to take control away from the people. Unfortunately for them and thankfully for the people, there was a saving grace for Daein’s future. Ashnard's only son had stepped up as soon as his father had died in order to rally his father's people and guide Daein through its reconstruction. Because of his presence, the Occupational Army couldn't fully take over Daein without taking out the brand new king. Which was something the army couldn't do, least the people of Daein snapped at Begnion

Ashnard's only child was something of a secret to the world, only the citizens of Daein knew he existed, and even then, no one besides Ashnard and those on par with the rank of the Four Riders knew of his son’s Branded heritage. There was a reason for this of course, everything Ashnard did had purpose. If the world had known about his child, the topic of his mother would’ve come up eventually. Ashnard would rather had died then explain why he wanted a child with a laguz despite his country's awful treatment of them. Although, sharp minded individuals could probably guess what he truly wanted when he had the child. Ashnard was a man who constantly hungered for more power than any one man should ever possess, it was obvious why he wanted a child with laguz blood. He wanted a child with the power of dragons, but that's not what happened. This is not how the mixing of laguz and beorc blood worked. Instead, his son was a Branded, those who carry the mark upon their bodies that prove the crime of union between a laguz and beorc had happened in their bloodline. The Branded bear none of their laguz blood's transformation abilities, although sometimes a Branded can be blessed with a power that beorc don't have, or at the very least, have extreme aptitude for their craft of choice, be it magic, swordplay or any matter of talent.

To anyone who knew anything about the Branded, the fact that Ashnard's son had none of the draconic abilities his blood carried wouldn't have been a surprise. But Daein hadn't seen many Branded in its past, so knowledge about them was incredibly limited to its citizens, Ashnard included. So when he realized his son didn't possess the powers he wanted, he nearly threw away his only child right there and then. But, there was an advantage to keeping the son he had no longer had any use for, he was bait. Bait for his mother's family to try and save from the man known as the Mad King. Needless to say, the boy wasn't saved from his father. The only thing that came from this was his uncle being turned into a mindless dragon mount for his father, a fate far more cruel than death.

Although it was a tragedy for the dragon family to lose both the child and their oldest son, in the eyes of the the people of Daein, they would've considered that a blessing in disguise. For if they currently didn't have the son of Ashnard here, they would be under the iron fist of the Begnion Occupational Army. But because of his son, they had to play nice with the new Daein king and tread carefully when dealing with the subject of how they treat his people.

That didn’t stop the army from trying to take control away from the people, they took small steps in asserting their dominance. Quietly, they made their presence well known in towns and villages that didn’t have any fighters within them, along with them trying to persuade nobles with money in an effort to get the upper class against their new ruler. What those from Bengion didn't expect was the amount of loyalty the people had for the young man. He had used the ideology of “strength makes the man”, the same ideology his father taught to the people to rally them onto his side while Daein had been in the direct aftermath of their lose to the Crimean Liberation Army. The ideology he hated ended up being his saving grace, some would call that irony.

Currently, the Occupational Army continued to try and take over Daein from under the people's noses. “Three years of this… They know our resources are such that we can't directly fight back against them currently,” Soren mused to himself, as no else was currently present in the room besides himself. “Perhaps I should get the Liberation Army to meet with the Dawn Brigade? That would allow us to appear as though we are truly invested in the fight against the Laguz Alliance,” by muttering parts of his ideas aloud, it allowed him to better visualize the effects it would have in the long run. He continued to ponder the idea as the ink feather pen he held in his hand danced across the papers that sat in front of him at his workspace, which was nothing more than a fairly old mahogany desk with a lantern for lighting. Perhaps not as luxurious as one would expect for royalty, but it was far preferred to some gaudy setup that a king obsessed with his money would have.

The Liberation Army, which was basically nothing more then a renaming and moving of the majority of the royal army acted separately from Soren, although they were technically watched over by Soren himself. He had to maintain the facade that he tolerated and was willing to turn a blind eye to what Begnion currently put the common folk through. If he acted out of line, he knew his people would pay the price for his insolence. The fact that he had to play nice with the Begnion Senates that would visit him often made him sick. Numida, the leader of the Begnion Occupational Army and Lekain, the Vice-Minister of Bengion were the ones who would _bless_ him with their presence as they said. He knew that Lekain in particular had a grudge against him, as when he offered a contract that was supposed to be a contact that offered Daein protection while they rebuild, Soren had refused.

...

_“I thank you for your generous offer Mr. Vice-Minister-“_

_“So, what are you waiting for? Please sign it King Soren”_

_“But,” A light chuckle left him as the smallest hints of a smirk appeared on his face. He held the contract that Lekain was so insistent on him signing up so the other man could read the text. “Do you think me as daft?”_

_“I, I have no idea what you’re implying. I would never think of you as anything less than brilliant, just like your father”_

_“Ashnard, brilliant?” That comment was amusing in itself, but the fact that a Begnion senate had said made it that far more laughable. “Do you think he would ever agree to such a contract?”_

_“You are not your father though! You are free to make your own decisions-“_

_“You’re right, and that’s why I must decline the offer”_

_“I beg your pardon?!” Lekain was trying to maintain his composure, yet his face showed the irritation he felt towards the young man. His eye twitched as he waited for Soren’s response._

_“I can’t ask Bengion for help, I couldn’t ask for your nation to give up anything for our sake. That would be a level of selfishness I can’t bear to be”_

_“No! I assure you, there is no issue with us supporting you. Even the Apostle agreed!” Soren noticed the man’s eyes widen when he had mentioned the Apostle. So the apostle more than likely had no idea this was going on if Lekain had acted so surprised by saying something that otherwise could have be believed. He presumed that even Lekain hadn’t expected himself to speak of Sanaki._

_“I deeply apologize for disappointing you, but I can’t take this offer”_

_“But-“_

_“Please, you must accept my answer”_

_“I…”_

_“If there’s nothing else to discuss, You should be leaving now. I have other matters to attend to, I’m sure you understand, correct?” Before the man could say anything more, Soren waved his hand in a sign of dismissal. Clearly fed up with the young kings words, Lekain got up and left, an impressive aura of anger surrounding him as he slammed the door of the room he was just sitting it._

_Soren thanked the silence that followed. The fact he didn’t call out the Vice-Minister on his blatant lies was a testament to how much he feared gaining the full extent of the wrath of the senate so soon after Ashnard’s defeat. Daein just couldn’t handle another war, not now. He had struggled enough to earn the respect of Daein’s citizens as he was trying desperately to find the best way to go about reconstruction without draining all the minuscule resources the country still had._

_The silence was shortly lived however as a soft knock at the door broke him of his thoughts. He figured it would have to be the man he stationed outside the room while Lekain and him had talked. “Enter”_

_And as expected, it was that man. Tauroneo, a former member of the Four Riders who had served Daein so loyally for years. Even though he had betrayed Ashnard to join the Crimea Liberation Army, Taunroneo had returned to Daein to work under the new king. “What did did the vice-minister come to discuss?”_

_“Well,” he watched as Taunroneo softly closed door in contrast to Lekain earlier. Soren then motioned for the older man to sit, which with a quick half-hearted bow he accepted. “He said it was a contract that would guaranteed Daein’s safety as we rebuild, protection courteous of Begnion itself”_

_“You say that like there was a catch”_

_“Congratulations,” he sighed, exhaustion heavy in his voice. “You figured it out”_

_Taunroneo only gave a soft smile at his sarcastic remark. “So, what was it?”_

_“The contract itself. Tell me, Taunroneo, have you ever heard of a blood pact?”_

...

  
That was three years ago, and yet Daein still feared Bengion for what they could do. Daein just didn’t have the ability to ask for support like Crimea did following the Mad King’s War. Soren had to pick up the broken remains of Daein and slowly try to piece the country back together again while fighting with Begnion for control over Daein itself. Three years of this, and still things looked grim in relation to the country’s fear of Begnion as a whole. Bengion had begun to demand that Daein take part in the fight against the Laguz Alliance. Of course, they were relying on Daein’s history with the laguz in order to make their demand seem more like a opportunity for them instead of a threat.

That was something Soren was planning to muse about further before someone knocked on the door to his study. He heard the doer creak open slightly as meek sounding voice come from the crack in the doorway. “Sir?”

“What is it?”

“There’s a group of people here to see you, they claim to be from the Dawn Brigade”

“Pardon?” Well, that saves the future effort of trying to contact them. “Do we have any confirmation that it’s indeed them?”

“The Liberation Army told us the Silver-Haired Maiden herself was among them”

“So people from the Liberation Army are here as well?”

“Yes sir”

“Tell them I’ll be there to greet them in a moment”

“Of course!” And with that, the door softly closed. So the Maiden of Miracles was here? Hopefully, things would go smoothly. If Daein was to be restored to its former glory, they all had to be on the same side, infighting at the current moment could spell disaster for the country’s future. Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Soren made sure his hair covered the brand upon his forehead. Last thing he needed was the Dawn Brigade being disgusted with his very existence, which would undoubtedly be their reaction due to Daein’s distaste of the laguz and those who share their blood. With that, he left to go greet the Silver-Haired Maiden and her allies himself.

…

Upon reaching the entrance hall, he noticed the maiden immediately. Being silver haired is rare after all, it’s not a trait many people could use in an effort to pretend to be the Maiden of Miracles. Alongside her were other folks he didn’t recognize, so he figured they must be the other members of the Dawn Brigade along with members of the Liberation Army, some of the members he knew personally as they used to work for Daein’s Royal army until they moved to the Liberation Army.

“It’s an honour to meet you, Maiden of Miracle,” his voice brought the brigade’s attention to him. The moment they glanced over at him, he bowed to them. When he stood back up, the surprised stares of the brigade greeted him. Seeing those stares terrified him, his heart started racing as his mind immediately realized his brand may have been exposed. He brought a hand up to make sure his hair hadn’t moved in a way to reveal his brand. Upon realizing it hadn’t, his heart began to slow to its normal heartbeat again, although he could still faintly hear its beating in his ears. “I apologize, did I offend you in some way?” Even if he thought the idea impossible, he wasn’t willing to risk anything at the very moment.

“Oh no, you didn’t-“

“We were just thinking would Ashnard’s son truly bow to anyone?” The maiden had begun to speak, but her green haired companion had cut in.

“Sothe,” her tone held a disciplinary tone that a mother would use to correct her young child. “I apologize. We just weren’t expecting the son of Ashnard himself to be so…” Soren’s eyes rolled in amusement. Ever since taking over his father’s position, people had been commenting nonstop over how different he was compared to Ashnard, which Soren considered a blessing.

“Different?” That was the only word Soren could use to describe himself as that’s the only one everyone else ever used.

“To be fair,” a soft docile voice spoke up from the same crowd that was the Liberation Army. A moment later, a meek young man came forward. “Most people probably expected just a younger Ashnard from you,” he didn’t recognize the man, he looked almost frightening fragile and his dark curly hair that framed his face only brought more attention to his sickly pale complexion.

“I apologize” he flinched when he realized that Soren was talking to him. “But who are you?”

“Ah, right, we never physically met before,” the man offered a sincere smile. “I’m Pelleas, the new leader of the Liberation Army,” that’s right. He received the news that the army had appointed a new man as leader, which he had no problem with. But, he hadn’t expected someone who looked so… delicate.

“I see, it’s nice to meet you as well,” he then turned his attention to the maiden. “And what may I have the honour of calling you?”

“My name is Micaiah, your majesty,” upon stating that, she bowed towards him.

“Please, there’s no need for that,” Micaiah’s confused expression was all the response he got. “Right now, we’re all equal in this. The power in the titles the people of Daein hold are currently nothing more than empty words, Bengion has all the real power”

“Are you seriously saying that you have no power here?!” A young blonde archer called out, he must be one of the Dawn Brigade. “What’s a king without power”

“What is he indeed?” The young man had a good point there, however, he didn’t have the full picture of what went on behind closed doors between the two kingdoms. “Bengion has been holding their power over us for these three years. The actions they’ve committed while questionable, are them holding back. If I were to openly oppose them and what they currently did, they would send their full financial and military support to put down any opposition I along with the rest of Daein provided”

The archer had opened his mouth to reply but had quickly shut it upon hearing Soren’s brief explanation. Despite not saying anything, his irritation was written all over his face. Not that he could blame him, if he was in the man’s position, Soren would feel the same. Although, they weren’t that different right now, both of them regardless of their rank in society were powerless over an outsider who wanted to only destroy the remaining people and thin hope for reconstruction that reminded.

“King Soren,” Micaiah spoke up again. “You assembled the Liberation Army youself didn’t you?”

“Correct, that’s why many members are former members of Daein’s royal army. Although, the everyday decisions are decided by the members themselves, along with them having the power to hire and fire allies they believe are or aren’t  contributing to the cause”

“And that’s why Pelleas was made leader of them correct?”

“I was informed of them electing a new leader, but I was not aware of his physically underwhelming appearance,” he stopped for a moment upon seeing Pelleas’s look of pure panic. Great, was he also emotionally fragile? His skill in battle better be worthwhile if this was the amount of backbone he had in social interactions. “Relax Pelleas,” as if it was a command, the man seemly gained his composure back. “In this case, having someone who doesn’t seem capable of commanding an army be its leader is actual a benefit”

“Wait, how so?” Pelleas really didn’t see the advantage it could give them? Begnion wouldn’t expect him to turn on them the moment the opportunity arised. “If I’m incompetent, doesn’t that affect the entire armies performance?”

Soren could only give a tried sigh. “Clearly you’re doing a fine enough job if the army hasn’t fallen over dead yet”

“But!” Soren held a hand up, this made the man stop talking immediately.

“Pelleas, you’re doing a fine job as leader. No one has complained about you to me, so I trust you’re treating the men well”

A bashful smile appeared on the sickly man’s face. “Thank you, Soren- I mean, your majesty”

“It’s fine, feel free to address me as just Soren”

“Really?”

“As I said before, titles mean nothing here. Also, I have a single question to the Dawn Brigade”

“And that is?” A new person spoke up, he seemed to be a middle aged man who held a calm aura around him, no doubt due to his age.

“You had been helping the Liberation Army already, haven’t you?”

“That’s correct”

“I see,” Soren hoped that with that in mind, what he was about to ask would be more easily accepted. “Then if I may, I have a request I wish to ask of you”

“And what’s that?” the man Micaiah had referred to as Sothe spoke up, a tone of skepticism heavy in his voice.

“Please don't feel as though you have to agree to what I’m asking of you. You have heard about the Laguz Alliance, haven't you?”

“The Laguz Alliance?” he was thankful that the older man had taken the conversation back from Sothe. “Of course we have, why do you ask?”

“I would ask that you help the Liberation Army with their appearance of fighting the Alliance”

“What do you mean by “appearance?”

“We as a nation have no need to fight the Laguz Alliance, in fact, we should be supporting them and their plight. However, Bengion has been breathing down our necks and is forcing our hand to fight against the alliance”

“So you’re putting up the pretense of fighting them?”

“Yes, and I believe by having the Dawn Brigade ally themselves with the Liberation Army, Bengion would be content for the moment”

“Then what will you do about Begnion the moment they start to suspect us to not truly be fighting them?”

“That worry can be left to me, they will come to me first. And I assure you, I can keep the senate at bay”

“I see”

“If our safety against the alliance can be assure,” Micaiah began speaking. If she wasn’t the leader, she surely held the air of one far better then any of her comparisons. “Then I see no problems with working with you”

Soren couldn’t blame her for being concerned, in fact he was pleased with her looking out for the safety of her comrades first. “I already have communication with the alliance itself, so they also understand that your battles with them are to be nothing more than a fancy performance”

This seemed to satisfied Micaiah, as with a small nod and smile she said. “If that’s the case, then consider us on your side, Soren. We will help the Liberation Army as you help the alliance get back at Begnion”

“I can’t thank you of the Dawn Brigade enough for your willingness to help”

“It’s our honour to fight with the king of our homeland”

“Thank you, Micaiah and the rest of you”

“Soren,” Taunroneo, one of the members of the Liberation Army spoke up. “If we may leave”

“Of course, I have something to attend to and you have to help get the brigade up to speed,” he then turned his attention back the brigade. “I’m sorry to make our first meeting so short, but I wish you all luck and hopefully we’ll be able to talk again soon”

The middle aged man replied, Goddess he really needed to ask for their names next time they met. “We’ll be looking forward to our next meeting”

“And I you,” and with that, the now combined army made their way out of the castle door, leaving Soren by himself.

Thanking the Goddess herself that things had gone smoothly, he made his way back up towards the study. His eyes took only passing glances at the empty walls that once held paintings of his ancestors, the lack of dust on parts of the wall gave away where the paintings used to be hanged. It wasn’t that he was attached to them, his ancestors and even his father didn’t mean anything of emotional value to him. The lack of them were simply a way of showing the sad state of Daein. In order to keep the country standing, it had to part with objects and even mindsets that reflected the history of Daein. He guessed his faint missing of something as impersonal as paintings was more of a subconscious regret that he had to sell something like that in order to help his country stay afloat and not drown under the control of Bengion. Truly, Ashnard had no plans for if he failed and now, everyone of Daein was paying for it.

He expected a member of the Laguz Alliance to be in the study by the time he arrived, and he was correct. The same young, well young by laguz standards, bird laguz he always talked with was sitting on the window sill.

“Janaff, I was expecting you”

“Yeah?” A lazy smirk appeared on the man’s face. “Well, I’m glad to know that Daein’s king hasn’t gotten any tired of us laguz yet”

“Of course not,” he was at ease knowing that remark came from someone like Janaff. A laguz who had worked with beorc’s in the past during the Mad King’s War. He wouldn’t have blamed the laguz’s skepticism at the idea of Daein wanting to support the laguz in their strife, but people from Daein had been present by his and the other laguz’s side in the Crimea Liberation Army during the war, and so he figured that Janaff was warmed to the idea of Daein caring about his kind.

“Soooooo~,” dragging his words out like a gossipy midwife, it was almost endearing. “Got anything new to tell us?”

“The Dawn Brigade has join the Daein Liberation Army”

“Is that so?” A light chuckle left the hawk. “Sounds like we’ll have a better show to put on for Begnion!”

Soren found himself only giving a small smile in response.

**Author's Note:**

> Prince Soren!AU is honestly my favourite Fire Emblem AU of all time, so I had to write it eventually.
> 
> Also, I can’t wait to get to the interactions with the Greil Mercenaries. So I hope other people can look forward to it too!


End file.
